Salary by Service Time

Track the salaries of Major League Baseball players and what many fans don't realize becomes perfectly clear. There is a scale and escalation involved that goes well beyond how a player performs, particularly the the pre-arbitration and arbitration years. So when Ryan Howard broke the bank in 2008 with a $10,000,000 arbitration award when he was just a Super Two player (Super Two relates to the small percentage of Arbitration Eligible players under 3 years of Major League Service Time), he received way more than had previously given to that class of player. His salary of $15,000,000 this year does the same for a Year 3 player in his 2nd year of arbitration. But just how does the scale look and how does it escalate. For players under one year of Major League Service time (the days up to 172 that a player is on the Major League roster or injured reserve), the average salary for 2009 is $436,185, not including veteran Japan League players in their first year of service. By the time a player reaches 1.000 of MLST, this jumps 12.5% to $490,894. Once a player reaches full free agency at 6.000 MLST, the escalators continue to rise through year 11.000, reaching a peak of $9,140,064 for the 18 players in that service class. Listed below are the service classes and % increase over the class before. For the purpose of this study, veteran Japan League players are listed at no lower than 6.000 MLST, including their rookie years.

MLST (Years), Class - % Increase Over Previous
Under 1.000, Pre Arbitration - $436,185
1.000, Pre Arbitration - 12.5% Increase
2.000, Pre Arbitration - 13.4% Increase
2.140, Arbitration - 321.6% increase
4.000, Arbitration - 28.1% increase
5.000, Arbitration - 63.3% increase
6.000, Free Agent - 16.8% increase
7.000, Free Agent - 14.6% increase
8.000, Free Agent - 22.0% increase
9.000, Free Agent - 13.1% decrease
10.000, Free Agent - 2.1% increase
11.000, Free Agent - 28.5% increase
12.000+, Free Agent - -29.7% decrease

Salary source: USA Today Salary Database
MLST source: Cott's Salary Archive

2009 Salary By Position

The average salary per position in Major League Baseball in 2009 is now in, and once again, the highest paid position is at first base and designated hitter with an average of $5,863,938. Much of this is due to many higher priced and veteran players at that position compared to others. In second place, 3B, where the salary of Alex Rodriguez at $33,000,000 skews the average in a significant manner. But pulling up the rear is catcher. While most managers consider the position as one of the most, if no most, important positions besides pitcher, the lack of quality hitting catchers in the major leagues today pulls the average down significantly.

Average Salary by Position for 2009

Position - Ave. Salary - (#Players)
Catcher - $2,179,760 (63)
1B/DH - $5,863,938 (47)
2B - $2,262,202 (53)
3B - $4,793,313 (43)
SS - $3,113,541 (53)
OF - $3,857,507 (149)
P - $2,887,334 (407)

Salary Source: USA Today Database